Did Ibn Battuta ever visit China?
Abu ‘Abdallah ibn Battuta, born in Tangier in the Marinid Sultanate (modern Morocco) in 1304, is known as the ‘Marco Polo of Islam’ and one of the greatest medieval travelers. An Islamic qadi and legal expert, between the years of 1325 and 1349 he made several pilgrimages to Mecca; traveled throughout the Mamluk Sultanate and the coast of east Africa; Anatolia, Syria, and Palestine; the lands of the Golden Horde Khanate; the Dehli Sultanate of India; the Maldives; Sumatra; and apparently China. He wrote a book about his travels, called the Rihla. Right now, I am reading a book about Ibn Battuta, The Adventures of Ibn Battua, a Muslim Traveler in the 14th Century, by Ross E. Dunn. He indicated in his introduction that many scholars have suggested that Ibn Battuta never actually made it as far as China, and later in his book has this to say: The itinerary is vague, possibly disordered, and sometimes baffling. Chronological information, except for what can be inferred here and there, is a
